Artoria's form shivered, her lips quivered and she reached out at her knight with trembling hands as he took a step back, "A..Aston?" She asked, her face paling as she spoke.
For perhaps the first time in her life, the noble King Arthur, liberator of the people and the King of Knights, found herself unable to process the blunt truth. Her own thoughts betrayed her, telling her it was alright to avert her gaze even when her heart refused to allow such a thing.
Lightning masked the Knight of Atrocity's eyes, oozing out of his figure, burning his own flesh in some places. His armour was far more sinister than anything she'd witnessed, his teeth were sharp like a beast's and his hands clawed.
He opened his mouth to speak but no words left it and that terrified Artoria more than anything else.
Eyes wide in despair, lips quivering in the regret and feelings she'd been bottling up for so, so long and knees weak at the weight placed upon her shoulders, the servant found herself drawn to Bazett when the Irish magus sighed.
Bazett, seeing her expression, found her own words stuck in her throat, "How pitiful."
What stood in front of them was the Knight of Atrocity, the one spoken of in Legend.
Artoria was no fool and she was certainly not blind, and that worked against her in this one instance.
This, what stood before her eyes was a painful truth the King with no desires had chosen to ignore. The Knight of Atrocity was an object of her own making, his despair-inducing form was something she forced upon him for the sake of people.
There were none who could convince her otherwise.
His reputation had been tarnished, his name had become hated by the people.
Most of all, a kind man who couldn't bear to see his fellow man in pain had been forced into committing acts that would tear up the strongest of hearts and wills, all because she saw it as the correct course.
His love and admiration for her had become something she'd used to further the people instead of how it should have been handled.
A gentle knight, who'd given up most of himself for others, was reduced to... that.
It didn't matter to Artoria that her feet refused to move, she forced them to.
The wetness on her cheeks didn't matter to her either, she refused to let her blurry vision hinder her.
Desperately, slowly, she struggled to make her way through the muddy ground, to the knight who'd lost his self and ignoring his own state, fell down on one knee with his head lowered.
However, it made one other thing so extremely clear.
Her wish was wrong.
To see her rule undone would be to see his efforts, the efforts of all those who followed her, undone as well.
It would deny his, their, sacrifices, wash them away.
Make his suffering end but at the same time, take from him the meaning of his life.
It would mean that he had never been as gallant and incredible a knight as he was.
It would deny him his legend, no matter how convoluted, deny his works.
It would deny all her knights their struggles.
They didn't deserve that.
As Aston said, if he said it, maybe she wasn't really as bad a king as she thought?
If she'd failed the people, maybe it simply wasn't meant to be?
Hadn't her people gone on to conquer over half the world?
"Y...You've done.. well."
Stammering with her words, Artoria reached down and cradled his head in her seemingly frail arms, resting her head against his.
The lightning coming off his figure struck her too, burning her fair skin but she did not care about that. He tried to back away to not hurt her but she didn't let him, "It is... alright." Tears rolled down her cheeks, wetting his shoulder as years of suppressed feelings came crashing down on her mind.
"I am... sorry. I am..sorry."
She apologised, perhaps attempting to do something about her own aching heart, "T..This time, if there is a wish.. to be made. Let.... us live out our days as commoners." Artoria spoke her own desire and in a way, her own apology, "That is fine right? R..Rotten as I am, I would try my best."
It wasn't right to be as selfish as she was being but nothing else felt right, the words poured out of her mouth before she herself could process them.
"If you d-do not want that... I understand."
Her heart bled but it made sense, she'd made him a monster.
It would make sense for him to, deep down, loathe her very name.
T-That could be the case right?
Somewhere along the way, fighting against swarms upon swarms of skeletal warriors, her hair had come loose, hanging down to her slim waist and.. Well, a woman half-standing hugging the head of an armoured knight tall enough that he was only slightly shorter than her when standing with her eyes closed as tears streamed down her cheeks made for a very strange yet somehow cathartic scene.
Artoria felt a familiar hand gently press into the back of her head as the knight shifted such that he could take her considerably smaller, sleek figure into his arms, resting her his chin on her small head as he wrapped both hands around her and fell back before letting out a soft sigh.
"You've always cared too much, it's alright. You took up Caliburn as a child and suppressed your own desires.. I'm.. not cruel enough to deny you."
"If I cared, I wouldn't have made you suffer so... so no, I am rotten."
"It was as much my choice as it was yours."
Aston's eyes regained clarity, going back to a dull blue as the lines over his figures faded out of existence, his teeth returning to their original human shape while the spikes protruding from his figure retracted.
The Knight of Atrocity stared up at the star-filled night sky and took a deep breath, "But well, I am not ashamed to admit nothing would make me happier." Strengthening his embrace, the knight turned his head to Bazett, "You however should be, are you perhaps a voyeur or something my Master? Wait, that term is incorrect. I think a resident of this age would call you someone with daddy issues."
"W-What?" Bazett blushed crimson, "Why the hell do I get insulted when she gets a hug?!" She broke out of her stupor and shouted at the Lancer, stomping her foot on the ground only for it to fling mud at her face, "Ugh.." But then, with face marred by mud, she realised that her servant had used her to diffuse the awkwardness the situation would have brought.
"Now, Artoria." Aston smiled sheepishly, "I believe we still have a war to finish unless you wish to consummate our theoretical union right here.. In which case.." He cleared his throat, "I must regretfully admit even I do not possess such confidence."
"E-Eh!?"
Artoria was confused for a moment before the realisation hit her and she tried to back away in shame, her face red and teary but adorned by a smile that would make any heart melt.
* * *
Something needs to be done about my stupid ass update schedule.
Contrary to what you might think, it's not cause I don't have chapters to post, it's that my stupid ass is either asleep or forgets to post entirely and then decides to post next day and the cycle repeats.
Any tips to deal with this?
WN's timed posting feature fucks up often for me.
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On other news, about the Rin and Nobunaga question, how about... both?
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You can find up to 7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap
4 chapters into the camelot arc if I remember right.